'Last Chance U' Renewed for Season 3 by Netflix

August 24, 2017

Netflix has renewed college-football documentary series “Last Chance U” for a third season.
“Last Chance U” explores the world of junior-college football. The first two seasons focused on East Mississippi Community College, where many players are attempting to save their college-football careers after being bounced from Division I schools for disciplinary or academic issues. The new season will follow the Pirates of Independence Community College in Kansas. Under first-year head coach Jason Brown, the Pirates last year enjoyed their first winning season in a decade.
“While we now have the opportunity to head to Kansas, we hope to revisit the people we’ve grown to love over the past two seasons of Last Chance U,” noted director Greg Whiteley. “We are forever grateful to the talented team at East Mississippi Community College who dedicated months of their lives in Scooba and trusted us to tell their incredible stories.”
“Last Chance U” is produced by Netflix in association with Condé Nast Entertainment, Endgame Entertainment and One Potato Productions. Originally inspired by a feature article in GQ magazine, the documentary series is executive produced by Greg Whiteley, Joe LaBracio, Dawn Ostroff, Lucas Smith, James Stern, Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo and Lisa Nishimura.

'Last Chance U' is coming back for a third season -- and heading to Kansas

August 24, 2017

The Netflix series ‘Last Chance U’ is returning for a third season — though it won’t be in Scooba, Mississippi.
Instead, it will follow the team at Independence Community College in Kansas.
“While we now have the opportunity to head to Kansas, we hope to revisit the people we’ve grown to love over the past two seasons of Last Chance U,” said director Greg Whiteley in a statement. “We are forever grateful to the talented team at East Mississippi Community College who dedicated months of their lives in Scooba and trusted us to tell their incredible stories.”
The first two seasons of the series followed the team at East Mississippi Community College. After the first season, coach Buddy Stevens admitted he didn’t like much of what he saw of himself on camera — and visibly tried to change a lot of his language and behavior in season two — though it didn’t always work.
“I’m still a mess,” he told For The Win’s Chris Korman last month. “I feel like there was an effort there, but I’m still a work in progress.”
But, he said, he wanted the series to stick around.
“There’s a whole lotta story still to be written,” he said at the time. “All new kids, new coaches on the offensive side of the ball, a new defensive coordinator. It would show a whole new view.”
A number of players from the first two seasons of the series have gone on to Division I schools — which was the premise of their attendance at East Mississippi in the first place. The series title ‘Last Chance U’ reflected that many were former Division I prospects who got in some sort of academic or legal trouble and needed a place to help them get a second chance.
Many of them did.
Four players from the series have signed on to play with Lane Kiffin at FAU — including John Franklin III, who announced he was transferring to that team after a successful season at Auburn.
“It’s kind of addicting,” Kiffin told CBS Sports. “It’s kind of unusual because you’re watching a show that’s not real, [but] it’s real football.”
The third season heads to a school that is more than just a geographic change from East Mississippi, which was a perennial powerhouse long before the camera crews descended on town. The Independence Pirates, according to the press release, are coming off their first winning season in 10 years under first year coach Jason Brown.

May 18, 2017

Fox Searchlight has picked up North American and U.K. distribution rights to Old Man and the Gun, the latest film from Ain't Them Bodies Saints filmmaker David Lowery, the company announced Thursday.
Robert Redford and Casey Affleck lead a cast that also includes Sissy Spacek, Danny Glover, Tom Waits and Tika Sumpter.
The crime pic is based on the true story of Forrest Tucker (Redford) and tracks him from his escape from San Quentin at the age of 70 to a string of heists that confounded authorities and enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit are detective John Hunt (Affleck), who becomes captivated with Forrest's commitment to his craft, and a woman (Spacek) who loves him in spite of his chosen profession.
The film has wrapped principal photography in Cincinnati.
No release date was given, but a 2018 opening is the likely target.
Lowery, who last helmed 2016's Disney movie Pete's Dragon, directed and also wrote the script for Old Man, basing it on a short story by David Grann (The Lost City of Z) in The New Yorker. He calls it a "wild and wooly tale."
Producing are Endgame Entertainment's James D. Stern, Conde Nast Entertainment's Dawn Ostroff and Jeremy Steckler, Wildwood Enterprises, Identity Films' Anthony Mastromauro, Sailor Bear's Toby Halbrooks and James M. Johnston and Bill Holderman.

April 3, 2017

With "The One I Love," a lo-fi gem about a vacationing couple that stumbles upon its doppelgangers, the filmmaker Charlie McDowell established himself as a brave new voice — a master of the original and screwball.
His new movie, "The Discovery," is different. The production is bigger, sexier and of the moment. The futuristic story arrives from Netflix — the film debuted Friday on the service and also opened theatrically in selected cities, including Los Angeles). Unlike "The One I Love" it was not shot in the home of the director's mother and stepfather, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson.
It even comes with stars and a whiff of the tabloid: McDowell wrote the part for Rooney Mara, his longtime girlfriend, only to find himself finishing the movie after they broke up. But as he takes a step up the Hollywood ladder, McDowell wants film fans to know that he hasn't sacrificed intimacy and relatable interactions even if he's working on a bigger scale.
"Human nature," he said, "is the most interesting backdrop for a movie."